Ingenico Group has achieved a solid performance in the first half of this year, in line with our expectations, showing a strong momentum in Europe and Asia-Pacific balancing weaker performances in Latin America due to the ongoing macroeconomic situation in Brazil. During the second quarter, North America has recovered following three consecutive quarters of organic declines, reflecting the strong positions we have built in this market over the past four years. ePayments continues to grow rapidly and we are comfortable that this division will meet its medium term targets. In this environment, Ingenico has been able to maintain robust EBITDA margins and cash flow generation, strengthening our excellent financial position. In this context, we reaffirm our 2017 full year objectives and we look forward to the future with confidence.

Ingenico has recently announced the acquisition of Bambora for a total consideration of 1.5 billion of euros. This acquisition represents a key milestone in our strategic plan providing a more integrated client offering and omnichannel solutions. Coupled with the investments made in our platforms and the development of new technological features, Bambora will enhance our customer centric approach and will reinforce our online and in-store positioning perfectly. This transaction will be additive to our growth profile and will create value for our shareholders, customers and employees.”

H1 2017 results

Key figures

Performance in the first half 2017

In the first half of 2017, revenue totaled €1,222 million, representing an 8% increase on a reported basis, including a positive foreign exchange impact of €12 million. On a comparable basis, revenue was 5% higher than in the first half of 2016.

During the period, the Retail Business Unit reported a revenue of €516 million, an increase of 5% on reported figures. On a comparable basis, the increase in revenue was 3%, driven by a good performance in ePayments but impacted by a strong terminals renewal cycle that has taken place in 2016 in Europe.

The Banks and Acquirers Business Unit posted a revenue of €706 million, an increase of 10% on reported figures and including a positive foreign exchange impact of €12 million. On a comparable basis revenue increased by 7%, fueled by a strong demand in Europe and Asia despite a lack of momentum in Brazil reflecting the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties.

Performance in the second quarter 2017

In the second quarter of 2017, Ingenico Group reported a revenue of €628 million, representing an 8% increase on a reported basis, including a positive foreign exchange impact of €4 million. On a comparable basis1, revenue growth was 5% higher than in the second quarter of 2016.

The Retail Business Unit has slowed down during the second quarter showing an organic growth of 2% and a reported revenue of €273 million. Compared with Q2’16, the various activities performed as follows on a like-for-like basis:

Online (up 11%): The activity confirmed a strong dynamic in line with its objectives. The platforms have demonstrated robust performance, especially in terms of stability, customer satisfaction and churn, while first merchants decided to adopt Ingenico new marketplace solution. Several wins during the period allowed acceleration of new business revenue in the first half with brands like Five Guys, WoW Air or Anantara. Finally, several new products and partnerships have been announced or launched, like payment in messenger bots, SEPA Direct Debit, BCMC acquiring and next generation fraud tools to enrich Ingenico’s offer and to grow its attractiveness towards merchants.

In-store (down 6%): In Europe, performance has been driven by a steady growth on the Axis platform, demonstrating Ingenico’s competitive advantage to serve Tier 1 in-store retailers’ needs, and its unique omnichannel value proposition on a pan European basis. In France, the Group benefited from the contribution of omnichannel contracts and continued to gain market shares in all retail merchant tiers. Turkey showed a more normalized performance after a strong Q1 that has benefited from the migration to terminals with fiscal memory. The US Retail segment continued to benefit from increasing adoption of our mobile payment solutions with large national retailers and deeper penetration in the Casual Dining segment with the boarding of new customers such as Red Lobster, Hooter or Frazoli’s.

The Banks and Acquirers Business Unit has shown a solid performance in the second quarter with an organic growth of 7% and a revenue that reached €355 million. Compared with Q2’16, the various regions performed as follows on a like-for-like basis:

EMEA (up 6%): Despite a strong comparable basis, the dynamic showed very strong momentum across most countries. The Group benefited from the tailwind of the PCI v1 terminals replacement cycle. Eastern European countries experienced strong momentum fueled by regulations pushing for more electronic payments.

Asia-Pacific (up 5%): As expected, the demonetization process in India ended after having fueled the growth since November 2016. The dynamic will now turn to a more normalized level waiting for a biometry regulation. In China, even if Landi faced a maturing market, the launch of the APOS has been particularly successful with almost 350,000 terminals shipped during the second quarter, allowing the company to grow. The rest of the region is still benefiting from a strong demand except in Indonesia where the regulation has led to a “wait and see” momentum.

Latin America (up 1%): The region is still impacted by the unfavorable macroeconomic situation in Brazil leading to a lack of visibility on this market. However, the Group grew in the other countries, most specifically in Colombia and Mexico. In the latter, Telium Tetra deployment continues to progress.

North America (up 19%): While the prior year comparisons remained difficult in this quarter, the region showed improved results as distribution partners in the US began to increase the volume of orders. Challenges continue in portions of the market, particularly in the SMB sector as EMV migration is no longer a motivator for merchants to upgrade their payment devices. Market continues to stabilize and existing inventory is being consumed. The Canadian business continues to perform strongly as acquirers continue to replace their installed base.

Gross profit up 4%

During the first half of 2017, adjusted gross profit reached €512 million, or 41.9% of revenue. Excluding China, adjusted gross profit was 43.7% of revenue, representing a 10 basis points increase compared to the first half of 2016 pro forma adjusted gross profit.

Operating expenses contained over the semester

In the first half of 2017, adjusted operating costs were €291 million, representing 23.8% of revenue compared to 25.1% in the first half of 2016. As discussed last February, the investments in our platforms tend to decrease all along the year as the forecasted plan has been achieved.

EBITDA margin and profit from operating activities

EBITDA was €244 million in the first half of 2017, equal to 20.0% of revenue compared to 21.5% in the first half of 2016. We remain confident with our full year EBITDA margin objective as H2 2017 will benefit from a better geographical mix and operating improvements.

After accounting for Purchase Price Allocation and other operating income and expenses, profit from operations totaled €191 million, compared with €184 million in the first half of 2016. The Group’s operating margin was equal to 15.7% of revenue, versus 16.2% in the first half of 2016.

As announced in February 2017, our new organization will enable us to optimize our operating model through higher end-to-end industrial and R&D efficiency, sharing modules across platforms and leveraging scale to optimize our costs.
In that purpose, we have initiated an operational excellence plan with the involvement and commitment of all local managers. We expect cost efficiencies to reach between €20 and €25 million on a full year basis through a continuous improvement plan and efficiency in our procurements. Our operational excellence plan will be rolled out over time.

Growth in profit attributable to Group shareholders compared to the previous year

Financial results reached €-8 million, against €-1 million last year on the same period, which one having been fueled by the disposal of Ingenico’s share of Visa Europe (€8.5 million).

Income tax expense fell from €56 million in the first half of 2016 to €51 million in the first half 2017. The reduction of the effective tax rate reflects a more favorable geographical mix.

The net profit attributable to Ingenico’s shareholders in the first half of 2017 was up 7% to €130 million versus €122 million in the first half of 2016.

A strong free cash flow reflected in the financial position

During the first half of 2017, Ingenico Group’s operations generated a free cash flow of €69 million, 8% higher than the prior year leading to an FCF/EBITDA ratio of 28.1%, an increase of 190 basis points. This improvement mainly resulted from the lower tax paid during the period resulting from a favourable geographical mix evolution. In parallel, the Group continued to invest in its activities with CAPEX amounting to €38 million.

The cash dividend paid in respect of 2016 was €40 million, whereas 58.6% of the total dividend amount was paid in stock (731,856 shares), reflecting the strong shareholders confidence.

As of June 30, 2017, net debt was €178 million reflecting a leverage of 0.4x the LTM EBITDA versus €232 million in the first half of 2016.

Highlights of the first half

Acquisition of TechProcess
Ingenico Group has acquired 100% of TechProcess Payment Services Ltd (“TechProcess”), a leading Indian electronic payments services provider from its current shareholders (major global and Indian investors). The acquisition of TechProcess will support the strategy of Ingenico Group in India, where it is the leader on the terminal market with c.50% market shares and a large player in online payments through the combination with EBS. Ingenico ePayments is number 2 based on the number of merchants in India. As a result, Ingenico Group will further expand its footprint in the country, and, ultimately, offer cross-border capabilities.

Acquisition of SST
Ingenico Group has acquired 100% of SST, the payment activities of its Ukrainian partner BKC (BANCOMZVJAZOK JSC). SST is Ingenico’s portal to Ukraine, through its extensive knowledge of the local market and its strong relationships with leading Ukrainian banks. SST also provides software development services to various entities within Ingenico Group, most specifically in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Africa. SST will be integrated within the Banks & Acquirers business unit.

Investment in Joinedapp
Ingenico Group has invested in Joinedapp, a start-up located in Palo Alto, California whose enterprise e-commerce solutions enable brands and retailers to connect with customers on their preferred mobile messaging apps. Joinedapp’s chatbot technology offers large and SMB merchants a scalable solution to engage, nurture, and monetize audiences across social messaging.

Acquisition of Bambora
Ingenico Group has acquired 100% of Bambora, a fast growing player in payment services, from Nordic Capital for a total consideration of €1.5 billion. The transaction will be fully financed through available cash and debt. The financial leverage will remain below 3x EBITDA leaving Ingenico flexibility for future M&A. Bambora, whose model generates more than 90% recurring revenue, reached a gross revenue of €202 million in 2016. In the next two years, gross revenue and EBITDA are expected respectively to grow over 20% and 30% per year. This transaction is a key milestone in the execution of Ingenico’s strategy as it will expand Ingenico’s own acquiring capability on top of existing partnerships, step up the approach of the fast growing end-to-end payment solutions market for SMBs in Europe and extend the geographical exposure of the online and in-store segments. The acquisition will be accretive on Ingenico’s economics from 2018 and beyond with an organic growth profile enhanced by 1 to 2% per year, a c.5% EPS accretive impact in 2018 (before synergies and PPA) and €30m of run-rate synergies to be realized over 3 years lead to an EPS accretive impact of c.13%.

Outlook

Ingenico Group confirms its 2017 objectives:

A revenue growth around 7% on a comparable basis

A slight increase of the EBITDA margin compared to 2016 (20.6%)

[1] On a like-for-like basis at constant exchange rates

[2] EBITDA is not an accounting term; it is a financial metric defined here as profit from ordinary activities before depreciation, amortization and provisions, and before share-based compensations.

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